The clock read zero Wednesday night at Syracuse Soccer Stadium. The scoreboard said SU had a 20-7 advantage in shots and a 7-5 advantage on corner kicks. Fans who attended knew the number of scoring chances was far more than 20. But just above those lighted numbers were the two most important ones in last night’s game between the Orange and visiting Oneonta State.

There was a ‘2’ under the Visitor portion of the scoreboard, while the home side sported a rectangular zero.

Syracuse dropped a 2-0 decision to the Red Dragons despite countless rushes at the goal.

‘They pressured with three guys up top,’ defender Edvin Hot said. ‘Our mindset was to play second runs to the forwards.’

An early goal in the 15th minute by Oneonta State forced Hot and his teammates to change their game plan from practice. The Orange spent a majority of the second half continuously chipping the ball into the box, crossing it to the forwards and setting up chances on corner kicks and free kicks in a sense of urgency from the early deficit.

But the rectangular zero stayed.

‘We gave up a goal before we even began thinking about playing,’ head coach Dean Foti said.

Sophomore Brad Petoom had three header chances at point-blank range to cut the lead. The first was a miss-hit that left him running back to his defender position in distaste. His second was much harder but right into the hands of Oneonta State goalie Timothy Melia. The third time wasn’t the charm either for Petoom, as the ball innocently sailed over the crossbar.

Foti didn’t dismiss the scoring chances but still felt his team didn’t play up to snuff.

‘A lot of things broke down,’ Foti said. ‘Hopefully it’s fixable, but we’ve run into it a couple of times this season. We like to think we address it once and it goes away but that’s not the case. Evidently, it’s a lesson we haven’t learned yet.’

While the Orange kept misfiring and failing to convert, Oneonta State was making the most of its few chances, almost doubling its scoring output when the ball was out of its own territory. A late shot ricocheted off the crossbar and another breakaway with only three minutes remaining was deflected wide by SU goalie Rob Cavicchia.

Foti said it’s important to be sharp, particularly in rainy games with the slick field conditions. But Hot didn’t blame Wednesday’s steady shower for the loss.

‘We didn’t come out as sharp as we could have,’ Hot said. ‘We played in the rain against South Florida (on) Saturday (and won). I don’t know man.’

Foti shouldered the blame and provided some defense for his younger players. But he wasn’t dismissing the upperclassmen who kept the back of the net empty.

‘I’m more disappointed in the effort level,’ Foti said. ‘For some veteran players to show and up and lay an egg, it’s not acceptable.’

Published on October 12, 2005 at 12:00 pm